


Take a Chance, Roll the Dice

by tfm



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27301027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfm/pseuds/tfm
Summary: A series of oneshot AUs.Chapter 4, prompt from anonymous: Forest ranger yasha and lost hiker beau.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha
Comments: 12
Kudos: 207





	1. Childhood Best Friends AU

For the first time in as long as Beau could remember, she and Yasha were going to be apart.

It had been almost ten years since the other girl had come into her life. Ten years since Yasha came to Kamordah as a refugee from the Xhorhasian Civil War, having been adopted by another family in Beau's neighborhood.

The Nydoorins, like most of the people that lived in Kamordah, had cared more about the image they projected, and adopting an orphan from a war-torn country was the very picture of the Good Thing to Do.

Beau remembered being forced into a bright yellow pinafore dress, her hair painfully pulled back with pins, and her shoes pinching her toes, as she was frog-marched up the driveway for the welcome party.

As it turned out, there was not much welcoming to do, because Yasha had sequestered herself up in the bedroom, refusing to come out. Apparently, her parents had not seen anything wrong with this, and were perfectly happy to drink and entertain their guests, and talk about the wonderful, selfless thing that they had done.

None of them noticed Beauregard sneak upstairs.

She sneaked around in every house that she was dragged to. The adults were so busy with their own boring stuff that she very rarely got caught, and when she did, it was easy enough to turn on the pretend tears.

Beau was halfway down the upstairs hallway when she ran into Yasha for the first time. Literally ran into. Beau had heard a noise, and was looking behind her even as she ran forward, the result of which was that she slammed headlong into the girl in front of her.

'I'm sorry!' Beau helped the girl to her feet. She was used to apologizing. If she didn't do it quickly enough at home, her dad got mad. The other girl, though...well, the other girl was really pretty. She had long dark hair with white streaks, and her eyes were two different colors. She was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, and she looked very shell-shocked to have been bowled over in the hallway. 'Are you okay?'

The girl's eyes were wide. They were really pretty eyes, Beau thought. She'd never seen eyes that looked like that. 'I am okay,' the girl said. Her voice was accented and a little stilted. This must have been Yasha. Her parents had talked about Yasha, when they thought Beau wasn't listening. How it was so sad that she had been orphaned, and how it was so nice of the Nydoorins to take her in, and whether it would give them enough social credit to be invited to the country club. 'My....my name is Yasha,' sh said. 'I like your flower.'

Beau didn't know what she was talking about at first. Then she remembered the bright yellow sunflower that her mother had pinned to the shoulder of her dress. 'Here,' Beau said. She took the flower from her dress and gave it to Yasha. 'You can have it.'

That was how it started.

Since that day, they'd barely been apart for more than a few days. They were in the same classes, did the same sports. They joined the school band, somehow managing to cause trouble even though strings and brass were on opposite sides of the music room.

Wherever Beau was, Yasha was not far behind, and wherever Yasha was, Beau would surely follow.

Until now.

Three days.

That was all the time they had before Beau left for Zadash, to study at the Cobalt Soul university. When she'd learned that Yasha would be staying in Kamordah, Beau had been of half a mind to stay, too. She'd just assumed, for some reason that she had all the time in the world, that Yasha would always be by her side.

But no. Yasha had accepted a horticulture apprenticeship in Kamordah; a pretty prestigious one, too. There were very few people in Kamordah that could grow anything other than grapes in the harsh soil, and soon, Yasha would be one of them.

It was only a six hour drive between Kamordah and Zadash, but it might as well have been six days for how far apart they felt. If Beau was going to make her move, she needed to do it sometime in the next three days.

Easier said than done.

The problem was, Beau had no idea whether Yasha liked her or not. Well...okay, that wasn't entirely true. They were friends of course, so she knew that Yasha liked her. She just didn't know if Yasha _liked_ her. Every time Beau tried to compliment, or flirt, or do anything that might have been even vaguely wooey in nature, Yasha went red and tried to change the subject.

Beau didn't know what to think about that.

In any case, they were grabbing lunch at Bigby's, and going to the movies today, and really, Beau was happy just to be spending time with her best friend. If she managed to get the courage to say something, she would, but if not...well, she didn't want to ruin their friendship.

Yasha was waiting at the end of the street. She was wearing a black t-shirt, and black jeans, and her black hair was braided down her back. Beau wasn't sure whether or not it was her imagination, but Yasha's eyes seemed to light up when she saw Beau skating down the street towards her.

Beau tried to jump onto the curb, and do a cool trick, but somehow, her feet ended up in the wrong place, and she faceplanted onto the concrete. It hurt like a bitch, but Yasha was at her side in a second. 'Are you okay?'

'Yeah,' Beau said, only she wasn't sure she believed it. There was something wet on her cheek that was probably blood, and her arm was really sore. _There are easier ways to impress a girl, moron_ , she told herself. 'You know what they say about falling head over heels for someone,' she said.

'What?' Yasha's eyes were wide.

'I-nothing.' Beau's courage failed her.

'Oh...um...I thought...' Yasha trailed off. 'Here, let me look at your cheek.' Yasha pulled a small pack of tissues from her bag, and poured some water from her water bottle, and cleaned the wound on Beau's cheek. 'I'm going to miss this,' she said, and her voice sounded so warm, so familiar, that Beau wanted to sort of just collapse into her, to say fuck college, and fuck her future, and hopefully, fuck Yasha.

Yasha had stopped moving the tissue, her hand resting slightly on Beau's cheek. 'I kinda don't want you to go.'

There was a long pause. 'I kinda don't want to go either,' Beau said. There was a thick tension in the air between them, a crackle like lightning was about to strike. Then, in an instant, it fell away, followed by Yasha's hand.

'I mean, you _should_ go,' Yasha said, casting her eyes away. 'It's a very good opportunity, and you're so smart, and you're wasted in Kamordah.' Beau couldn't help but smile. Yasha was the only person in the world who told her things like that, and that was the reason she wanted to stay.

'You're not there, though,' Beau said. She felt her own smile turn sad.

'I'll be here, though. And I can come visit on weekends.' She didn't suggest Beau coming home on weekends. They both knew that Beau had no interest in returning to her parents' house, even for an evening.

'It's a long way to drive,' Beau told her, as if she didn't know already. 'It'd be easier to talk on the phone.'

Yasha gave a look that Beau could only describe as sheer confusion. As if the thought of being able to go see Beau and not do it was the most incomprehensible thing in the world. That, after everything else, flipped the switch in Beau's brain. 'I love you,' she said.

Yasha blinked. She blinked again. 'What?' she said.

'I-you know, I don't want to leave town without telling you that.' Beau stumbled over her explanation. 'I mean it's not...you don't...I just wanted to make sure you knew.'

Yasha's face was affixed with a thousand-yard-stare. She didn't even look like she was hearing what Beau was saying. Then, she turned her gaze, her eyes the most beautiful thing that Beau had ever seen. 'I mean...if we ah...if we are talking about things that we want to do before you go.' Yasha took a very deep breath, and for half a second, Beau let herself hope. 'Beau, could I kiss you?'

Beau's answer was caught in her throat. She just about managed a nod, before Yasha leaned in and gently pressed a kiss to the edge of her lips. She pulled back about an inch, her lips curled into a soft smile.

'Well now I _really_ don't want to leave,' Beau said.


	2. Barbershop  AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prompt from anonymous on tumblr: Yasha's a barber, Beau needs her undercut touched up.

Beau wouldn't have seen the place if she wasn't walking home.

She wouldn't have been walking home if she hadn't missed the bus, and she wouldn't have missed the bus if Jester hadn't spent thirty minutes going on about Fjord and how attractive his tusks were, so really, it was Jester's fault.

Beau would have to remember to say thank-you.

She didn't realize that it was a hairdressers at first. It certainly didn't look like any hairdressers that Beau had ever seen before in her life. Bright purple signage, and a large peacock feather adorning the logo of Molly's Manes. She was intrigued, to say the least. The thing that _really_ drew her attention, though, was the six-foot tall behemoth of a woman wearing a black apron that was walking into the place.

Beau rubbed at the back of her head. The hair there was almost an inch long. Much longer than she usually let it get to, but it had been a busy month, what with two essays and a take-home exam to do.

She waited a polite thirty seconds or so so that it didn't look lie she was following the woman, and then walked inside. A bell above the door tinkled as she did. 'Be with you in a minute, love!' a bright purple tiefling called out from the other side of the salon, where he was busy giving a Tabaxi what looked like a full-body perm.

The tall woman was nowhere to be seen, and for half a second, Beau wondered if she'd been imagining things. Then, the woman emerged from the back, wiping her hands on the apron.

'Do you have an appointment?' she asked, as she reached the counter. Her voice was almost deadpan, and had a very slight accent that Beau couldn't quite place. Marquesian? Definitely not from the Empire, or the Concord at least.

Beau hadn't thought that far ahead. Of course you needed an appointment for a place like this. She opened her mouth and closed it again. 'No, I uh...I just need a shave.' She pointed to the growing in undercut at the side of her head. 'No trimming required.'

The woman stared. Beau realized, suddenly that her eyes were two different colors. One a pale blueish-green, and the other almost a violet. Beau had never seen anyone with eyes like that before. The woman looked down at the appointment book in front of her. 'I think we can fit you in,' she said. Beau had to stop herself from making a _very_ lewd comment. It was a lesson that had sadly taken her far too long to learn.

Beau was expecting to be told to take a seat, to wait until the tiefling had finished the perm, but to her surprise, the tall woman gestured towards an empty chair. Beau had just barely sat down when the woman – very roughly – threw a cape over Beau's shoulders, velcroing it at the neck.

'What number?' the woman asked, still deadpan. Beau hadn't even gotten her name yet. Was she Molly?

'Uh...one,' Beau said, before she'd even really thought about it. Usually she went for a two or a three, but it grew so fucking fast that she should really go shorter. At least that way she could go a little longer between cuts. Zero was maybe a little much.

'Fade?'

'Sure.' Beau's normal barber was not very good at fades. He wasn't very good at barbering in general, and more than once, had sliced Beau's ear open in an attempt to give her a straight-razor clean-up. Already, Beau could tell that this woman was much, much more competent than that.

It took a surprisingly long time. Beau was very much used to the no-frills treatment, but this woman was very, very careful. Her heterochromatic eyes kept a very tight focus on Beau's hairline, like she was an artist, rather than a barber. She seemed to swap between guards without even really having to think about it.

When she was finished, she brushed Beau's shoulders and neck down with a sponge. Her large hands were very comforting somehow. There was no wasted movement. Each brush was precise and measured. By the time she'd finished washing Beau's hair in the basin, Beau was certain that she was in love.

Less than twenty words had been passed between them. This was the first hairdresser Beau had ever met that didn't need to ask pointless questions about her life. Though, admittedly, she would have probably welcomed them from someone this attractive. Even just talking about the weather.

'That'll be five gold,' the woman said, when Beau pulled out her wallet to pay.

'Five _gold_ ,' Beau said, before she could stop herself. It really wasn't too outrageous a price, given the quality of the cut. She didn't think she'd ever had something that looked this nice before. Five gold was pretty fair.

'These hands are worth a lot.' Beau could have sworn she detected a small smile.

'I'll bet they are,' Beau breathed, far more loudly than she had intended. 'Hey, so what's your name?' Beau asked, before she could say something else stupid and make an idiot of herself. 'You know, so I can ask for you next time.'

The woman frowned, confused. 'Well I mean, it's just the two of us here every day,' she said, gesturing to the tiefling, who was now in the process of putting perm lotion on the curlers. 'Me and Molly are the only ones that work here, so if you just come in...'

The tiefling turned. 'Yasha,' he said. 'She's flirting with you.'

'Hey!' Beau snapped at the tiefling; at Molly. He wasn't wrong, exactly, but she wasn't exactly a fan of having people mess up her game. Yasha's cheeks went slightly red, and she changed the subject entirely.

'Thank-you very much for your custom I will see you next time.' She turned away and walked into the back without another word.

Scowling slightly, Beau left. She hadn't even _started_ flirting, and she'd been shut down. It was very frustrating.

The great thing about undercuts, though, was that they grew quickly. Less than two weeks later, Beau found an excuse to walk home again, nonchalantly entering Molly's Manes. It was a little quieter this time; there was no-one sitting in any of the pleather chairs, and neither Molly nor Yasha were there. But as she opened the door, a bell rung, and a voice called out from the back, 'Be with you in a second!'

Not Yasha's voice. Beau let herself feel mildly disappointed. The asshole purple tiefling that had cramped her game emerged from the curtain. He gave Beau a look up and down. She wondered if he recognized—'Yasha's on lunch at the moment. Can you wait ten minutes?'

'Sure.' Beau gave him a side-eyed sort of look.

'She likes flowers,' he said, in an offhand sort of voice, as though he wasn't even really talking to Beau.

'What?' Beau stared at him.

'You know, for no reason whatsoever, I thought you might like to know that Yasha likes flowers.'

Beau narrowed her eyes. She thought she'd been subtle. Moreover, she thought she was pretty good at being subtle. At least good enough that an up in the clouds, ostentatious purple tiefling wouldn't have noticed, but apparently he was a lot shrewder than she'd given him credit for.

'I'll keep that in mind,' she said, coolly. Internally, though, her heart and her mind were racing. Did that mean that Yasha had said something? Or was Molly just being an asshole? Either option was equally likely.

Time seemed to pass by in a slow agony. After nine minutes, the door opened, and the bell tinkled, and Beau looked up from her phone.

Yasha looked just as attractive, just as alluring as she had the first time that Beau had seen her. Beau wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, but Yasha's lips seemed to twitch slightly. 'You are back again.' It wasn't a question.

'Yeah, funny thing,' Beau said. 'Hair grows, you know?' Yasha's eyes widened slightly, and Beau realized just how dickish her words had sounded. She'd been going for playfully witty, and ended up on sarcastically bitchy. 'I mean...shit...fuck. Yes, I'm back again.'

'Right of course. Yes it does grow very fast. It would be much easier if it didn't grow but then I wouldn't have a job, you know.' Yasha spoke very quickly, averting Beau's gaze as she did. Even still, it was the longest sentence that Beau had ever heard her speak. Even though it was deadpan, Beau found she quite liked the sound of the other woman's voice.

She was a little more chatty this week, meaning that there was a single, question in that same deadpan voice. 'Are you from around here?'

'Nah, I'm from a little way north west of here. Called Kamordah.'

'Oh it sounds very nice.'

'It's really, really not. It's shitty, and hot, and muddy, and the people are all dickheads. It's much nicer here.' Beau gave a wink, and she was almost certain that Yasha caught it in the mirror.

'Yes, my home...uh town is not too nice either.'

'Oh?' Beau asked, inviting Yasha to continue.

'I am from Xhorhas.'

'Oh.' This “oh” was a little more surprised. Of all the places Yasha could have been from, Beau had not expected Xhorhas. There were a lot of boogiemen sort of tales about Xhorhas. Beau would have been very surprised if even a quarter of them were true, but it was the sort of place that most people seemed to regard with a healthy degree of suspicion and...well, bigotry. 'Must be really different, living in the Empire.'

'It is,' Yasha agreed. 'I am much more used to the open plains, and the wilderness, but ah...there are more flowers here, which is nice.'

Beau couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Zadash wasn't exactly a beacon of biodiversity, so for it to have more flowers than Xhorhas was something else.

'My roommate is from Nicodranas,' Beau told Yasha. She wasn't even sure why she was saying it. 'They have a flower festival there every year in Thunsheer. They've got exotic flowers from all over Exandria. It's really cool.'

Yasha stopped clipping. 'Wow,' she said, and for the first time, there was a sense of genuine awe in her voice. 'That sounds very interesting.'

_We could go there together someday_. Beau had to physically stop herself from saying the words out loud. Asking her hairdresser to come with her to a flower festival in another country the second time they'd met might've been a bit much.

But, there was always next week.


	3. Vampire AU

Halloween was always...well, fun.

Once upon a time, Beau would have thought that being a vampire on Halloween would be an exciting, jaw-dropping sort of experience. Now, it was just another day of the year, only this time blood-bags with legs were wandering the neighborhood, sending Molly into a frenzy of bloodlust.

'Just _one_ ,' he begged, as Jester and Yasha physically restrained him from going to the door. 'They won't miss one, I'm sure. Quick bite to the neck, and I'll put them right back where I found them. I'll make sure it's one of the adults.'

Molly was the youngest of them, having only been a vampire for a little under two years. He still had trouble with impulse control, and the idea of only ever drinking blood from animals, or volunteers.

Animal blood was easy to come by, as long as you varied where you got it from, and as for volunteers...well, Beau had never had any trouble finding volunteers. She could go to any gay bar in the city on a Friday night, and have people buying her drinks within minutes, and that was before she even mentioned the vampire thing. Apparently it was a thing that people liked.

Sometimes she took Yasha with her, and they had a _really_ good time. It totally wasn't weird to wake up on a Saturday morning in a bed with two humans and another vampire. The most fun part about all of that, though was how hard Fjord tried to avoid their gazes at breakfast the next morning. Sometimes, Beau threw in a few extra screams for fun.

The last couple of years, they'd tried to stay home during Halloween, wanting to avoid the stigma of creepy lurking vampire who only wanted to drink blood and prey on the innocent. It was a hard stigma to get away from, given that they...well, were vampires. It was easier to stay home, and watch movies as a household, with dinner and popcorn and drinks.

They now had a blanket ban on vampire movies, and anything else that had too much blood in it. Last year had been Molly's first year with them, and he had almost gone on a rampage after watching _The Shining_.

This year, Jester had picked _Hocus Pocus_.

'We watched that one like...two years ago,' Veth complained. 'Can't we watch something a little spookier?'

'Well, actually, it was twenty years ago,' Caleb provided, helpfully. He was always very good at keeping track of the dates. Beau remembered the time he had told her it was the one hundredth anniversary of the time that they'd almost been killed by vampire hunters. Time sort of blurred together after a while. 'You had to rent the VHS from the store, remember?'

If Molly was the youngest of them, then Caduceus was the oldest, Beau was pretty sure. Even Caduceus seemed to have lost count, though that wasn't entirely surprising. He had a bit of trouble with triple digits. 'I used to live in a graveyard,' he'd tell them, and they'd all smile and nod. 'Of course, this was before I became a vampire.'

They were all weird in their own little way, which was why they all seemed to fit so well together.

Of course, it wasn't always sunshine and roses. At least once a week, Veth would accuse people of stealing her food from the fridge (“Did you steal it? If you stole it, I'll _fucking_ kill you!”). It was kind of immaterial, given that food was no longer something that any of them actually _needed_ to survive. Still, there was something to be said about an extra-large cheese pizza, piping hot at two in the morning after a night of being hauntingly ominous.

More than once, the neighbors had called the police about the suspicious behavior of the eclectic household. Fair point, Beau didn't know any other house where seven normal adults with sufficient financial means lived in a large, old, spooky looking house. Most of those times, they sent Fjord to do the talking. He was surprisingly good at putting people at ease, but not quite good enough to stop Veth and Jester from putting turtles in his bed every other weekend.

For Beau, Halloween movie night was less about watching movies, and more about spending time with the people she'd come to love over the last...holy shit, two hundred years?

Man, time was getting on.

It seemed like only yesterday that they'd had to ride horses to get between cities, not even half the size they were now. Electricity was fantastic, and frankly Beau wasn't entirely sure how they'd survived without phones. It was so much easier to send a text to Caleb and make sure he remembered to pick up hot dogs from the supermarket.

Certainly a much nicer way to live than it had been before getting turned into a vampire; trapped in a thankless house with a thankless family. The plagues hadn't been fun, either.

'I'll make some tea before bed,' Caduceus told them, and no-one argued. It was another one of those little household rituals that they'd all come to love, Halloween or not. There was something nice about just sitting around a table and appreciating the silence.

'Oh, also, I made cookies,' the firbolg told them all, genially. 'Cows' blood, from the butcher. I'm trying to experiment with edibles.' Beau didn't quite have the heart to tell him. They tasted, as she had expected, disgusting, but they did sate the thirst somewhat. Would at least keep Beau going until the following evening, when she could hit the bars again. She wondered if Yasha (gripping a warm cup with both hands, and breathing in the steam) would be interested.

November dawned, and with it a chill in the air. Soon, the house would be filled with the smell of tinsel, and fir trees, and baking. Jester did like to get an early start on things, and she, Beau knew was thankfully not about to start baking blood cookies.

Halloween only came but once a year, but each and every year Beau had a good time, in spite of herself.

'Next time, _I_ get to pick the movie,' Molly said, pouting. He had eaten four cookies, and was still upset at not being allowed out to drink the blood of the innocents.

Nobody had the heart to disagree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make this very different from my *other* vampire AU, so this one is more "What We Do in the Shadows" than a standard vampire story.
> 
> If you want more vampire stuff, go read my story Reckless, Dark Desires.


	4. Forest Ranger AU

Beau absolutely wasn’t lost.

She absolutely hadn’t spent the last forty-five minutes wandering in circles, trying to find the trail again.

Hadn’t decided against telling anyone where she was going and what she was doing because she didn’t want to bother anyone.

Okay, so maybe all of those things were lies. She was lost. Had spent forty-five minutes trying to find the trail. And she _definitely_ hadn’t bothered to tell anyone where she was going.

At most, she’d told Jester that she was going for a hike on her way out the door, and Jester, enthralled by whatever new dick she was painting on her easel, had given a wave without turning around.

So, on the whole, not the best situation.

The stupid thing was, Beau wasn’t just a weekend warrior. She’d done some serious fucking hiking in her time; a few years back, she and Tori had done the Marrow Trail, a six-hundred or so mile trek from Trostenwald to Hupperdook that was colloquially known as the Trost Trail, on account of the fact that you could get beer at almost every stop along the way.

This day trip loop through Quoraska should have been a cakewalk. Beau hadn’t even bothered to pack a PLB (which was another stupid thing that she really should have done).

After another ten minutes of searching, Beau conceded defeat. Really, her stubbornness might have killed her, because she knew as well as anyone that the first rule of getting lost in the wilderness was to stay put. If there was anyone out looking for you, then wandering around made it far more difficult.

Beau didn’t think there would be anyone looking. Not yet, anyway. Jester probably wouldn’t worry until at least sundown, which was a couple of hours away. Even then, it wasn’t as though Beau had stayed the night away before. She did usually at least send a text, though.

There was a ranger’s hut at the trailhead, and on her way in, Beau had spotted a very tall (very attractive) woman in a ranger’s uniform, getting ready to do trail maintenance. But, it was a pretty long loop, and the idea that the ranger might have been paying attention to Beau specifically was a little too much to hope for.

Plus, it was kind of an embarrassing situation. “Hey, thanks for the rescue, I accidentally mistook an animal trail for the actual path, and got myself hopelessly lost on a day hike. Wanna get a drink sometime?” Yeah. Real smooth.

No. Beau would much prefer to get out of this ridiculous situation herself. If she couldn’t find the trail by wandering around looking for it, then maybe she could at least get a better vantage point. If not to see the path, then maybe some landmarks.

There were a few decently-sized trees in the vicinity. One that looked promising a little way away, and about ten feet higher than any other tree that Beau could see. Even if she couldn’t see anything from it, then she might at least be able to tie a bandanna to one of the outer branches, for anyone that did eventually come looking. Jester had given her a bright pink one for Barren Eve last year.

It was a tough climb. Beau thought she was a pretty good climber, but unlike rock, the tree did not have much in the way of conveniently placed handholds. The lowest branches were about twenty feet up, and it took a bit of scrambling for Beau to get up there.

After that...well, it wasn’t easy, but it was something that Beau could deal with. Hopping from branch to branch, hoping that one didn’t snap. After twenty minutes of sweaty work, she reached as high as she could go before her weight got too much for the branches. The canopy was a little thick, and it took very careful manoeuvring to get out far enough that Beau could see where she was.

It took a bit.

The Ashkeeper peaks were to the east, and Nicodranas to the west. All Beau had to do was look for the mountains, and walk in the opposite direction of those (should’ve brought a compass). Given that they were pretty fucking big, Beau didn’t miss them.

A direction in mind, Beau started to climb down.

It was going pretty good, until she got to the last branch, and hubris took over. Instead of climbing down carefully like a normal person, Beau jumped. Halfway to the bottom, she realized just how stupid of an idea it was, and when she hit the bottom and her ankle rolled, that thought was cemented.

‘Fuck!’ Beau yelled, as if that would do anything to mitigate the fact that she’s just sprained her own fucking ankle by being an idiot.

She wasn’t expecting a response. ‘Beauregard?’ The voice was unfamiliar; soft, and far closer than Beau had thought it would have been. Whoever owned it had clearly been coming closer while she fucked around climbing a tree. ‘Are you Beauregard?’

‘Yeah.’ Beau gritted her teeth. Okay, maybe that wasn’t a sprain. Maybe that was a break.

‘Your roommate called the Parks and Wildlife Service.’

Beau frowned. She hadn’t told Jester where she was going. Then it hit her. She _had_ left her laptop on. Her laptop with a search history. Oh man, there was some things in there she really would have preferred that Jester didn’t see. ‘I think my ankle’s broken.’

‘Yes, I heard you swear.’ The owner of the voice came into view, and Beau’s eyes fell onto the cute ranger that she had seen on the way in. The woman wasn’t wearing a hat, and Beau could see her long, black and white hair, braided down her back. Very impressive.

‘Hi.’ Beau couldn’t think of anything else to say. ‘I’m Beau. I don’t usually get lost on day walks.’

The woman’s lips curled into a smile. ‘Hi Beau,’ she said. ‘My name is Yasha.’ Yasha. _Yasha_. What a beautiful name. ‘Normally we would bring in a stretcher, but we aren’t too far from the trailhead, so I can probably just carry you.’

In any other circumstance, Beau might have focused on the fact that she had apparently gotten herself lost within walking distance of her car. But it was the other part of Yasha’s statement that had gotten Beau’s attention. _I can probably just carry you._

Half a minute later, Beau found herself getting hoisted into a bridal carry by very strong arms, and carried back through the trees. She was pretty sure she’d had a dream like this before. She was so distracted by this very welcome change in the day, that she almost wasn’t paying attention to the pain in her foot. Wasn’t paying attention to the fact that it took less than twenty minutes for Yasha to carry Beau back to the ranger’s station.

Then, as if Beau’s day couldn’t get any better, Yasha pulled out the first aid kit, and checked Beau over. There were cuts, and scrapes, and bruises, which were all tended to with loving care. The ankle, Yasha examined for several minutes, before splinting and binding. ‘I do not think it is broken,’ she said. ‘But I still think that you should go to the hospital for an x-ray.’

‘I drive a stick-shift,’ Beau said. She wasn’t sure why that was important in the moment, but apparently it was. She was pretty sure Yasha wouldn’t have expected her to actually drive herself to hospital.

‘Well, I am only supposed to be here until five o’clock,’ Yasha told her. Beau looked at her watch. It was five thirty.

‘Oh, shit. Sorry.’

‘No, no.’ Yasha waved her off. ‘What I mean is, I can drive you to the hospital.’ She gestured towards the only other vehicle apart from Beau’s in the lot. A large Jeep that looked like it had seen better days. A very serious look crossed her face. ‘But, you know, I will have to charge you.’ It took Beau far longer than she was willing to admit to realize that Yasha was joking. But, well...nothing to lose, right?

‘Tell you what,’ Beau said. ‘Once I’m off the crutches, I’ll take you out for coffee.’

She wasn’t expecting Yasha to say yes.

‘Deal,’ Yasha said. A stab of pain shot through Beau’s leg, but it was almost definitely worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do not follow Beau's wilderness safety example. Do your research before going on a hike, and always tell someone where you are going.

**Author's Note:**

> Due to reasons, some other things will be going on hiatus for a bit, but I still want to get some writing done. If you want to see an AU, send me a prompt in the comments or on Tumblr. Fandom fusions or genre both welcome.


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